THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: THE RETIRED GENERAL

THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: THE RETIRED GENERAL; Clark Backs Some Limits On the Right To Abortion

By EDWARD WYATT

Published: January 23, 2004

BEDFORD, N.H., Jan. 22—
Two weeks after Gen. Wesley K. Clark expressed opposition to any time limits on the right to an abortion, he took a less sweeping position on Thursday, saying he supported Supreme Court rulings that allow states to place some restrictions on abortion.

At a news conference after an address to a Planned Parenthood conference marking the 31st anniversary of the landmark decision that legalized abortion, General Clark said he supported the law as laid out by the Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade and in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

After giving a speech in which he vowed that if elected he would ''never let this country return to the dark days before Roe v. Wade,'' the general repeatedly refused to talk about the details of either case or his own position, instead referring simply to the title of the cases eight times in the span of a few minutes.

''I'm not going to go into detail on Roe v. Wade and Casey,'' he said. ''It's there for everybody to read in the law.''

At a debate among the Democratic candidates Thursday night, General Clark did discuss the decisions, but he did so while reading from notes that he brought onto the stage. An aide said the candidate had decided to have the notes ready after reviewing a transcript of the earlier press conference. ''He knows exactly where he stands,'' the aide said. ''But he was concerned about the words he uses, because on this issue the exact words matter.''

General Clark also was asked at the debate how he reconciled his support for abortion rights as a member of the Roman Catholic Church. ''As much as I respect the opinion of the Catholic Church,'' he replied, ''in this case, I don't support it. It's that simple.''

General Clark's position on abortion came into question after an interview with a New Hampshire newspaper in which he indicated that he supported a woman's right to abortion even in the third trimester of pregnancy, a stance that goes beyond the Roe decision.

A spokesman for the general said Thursday that the candidate had not changed his position, explaining that his statements to the newspaper were part of ''a rhetorical fight.''

In the Jan. 7 interview with the editorial board of The Union Leader, of Manchester, General Clark said he believed that the law should not be involved in abortion; rather, he said, the issue should be strictly between a woman and her doctor.

A partial transcript of the discussion between General Clark and Joseph W. McQuaid, publisher of The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, was published on Jan. 11. In it, the general said ''nope'' four times when asked about whether any limits should exist on abortion, including ''anything up to delivery.''

Asked about restrictions up to the time of ''the head coming out of the womb,'' General Clark replied: ''I say that it's up to the woman and her doctor, her conscience, and law -- not the law. You don't put the law in there.''

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court said states could restrict abortions after the fetus becomes viable, with exceptions for protecting the pregnant woman's life and health. The 1992 Casey decision upheld what it called the ''essential holding'' of Roe v. Wade, the right of a woman to an abortion in the first six months of pregnancy.

Last year President Bush signed into law a ban on a procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion. The law applies to a type of abortion, known medically as intact dilation and extraction, that has become a rallying point for abortion opponents. The Clark spokesman, Jamal Simmons, said the general supported the restrictions in Roe v. Wade and that he also supported giving the states the ability to impose some restrictions on abortion. He described the exchange with The Union-Leader's publisher as ''a rhetorical fight with a conservative, right-wing, anti-choice editorial board.''

''He was making an effort not to cede any ground on the issue,'' Mr. Simmons said. ''It was an effort to keep from engaging them on the issue of timing. Engaging in this in any other way would be ceding ground to Republicans that perhaps there needs to be other restrictions.''

The issue is a delicate one for the Clark campaign, which has acknowledged having taken steps to attract more support from women.

Most of the other Democratic candidates for president, including Senators John Edwards and Joseph I. Lieberman and Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, also expressed support for Roe v. Wade on Thursday. Senator John Kerry vowed to appoint to the Supreme Court only judges who support abortion rights.